Vienna, Graz, and Salzburg

Vienna

After a peaceful 7 1/2 hours on a train through the gorgeous Alps, we arrived in Vienna.

As we toured around Vienna, we had a wonderful tour guide — my grandmother’s great friend, an American who has lived in Austria for many years. He showed us churches and buildings around Stephansplatz and took us to an authentic Viennese coffee shop.

Closer to our apartment, we investigated typical Austrian food — it was “Schnitzel o’clock” as H likes to say. At Cafe Mesner we had traditional coffee and strudel. Along with schnitzel, spaetzle mit goulash, and apple strudel, we had our first almdudler (kind of like a ginger ale) at a local Gasthaus.

A few days later we split up into groups to see different museums. I can’t speak to the Natural History Museum but I know they all really liked it. Dad and I went to the Albertina where we saw Renoir, Degas, Dürer, Picasso and Rafael along with dozens of other wonderful artists’ work. After doing projects on some of these artists in high school I was thrilled to see their work in person.

That afternoon we went back to Stephansplatz and fell for salesman-Donnie’s pitch for tickets to a short classical music performance, as Vienna is the “City of Music.” The room was much smaller than we expected. The singers and musicians were very talented though they seemed a bit tired from playing the same set every night. Unfortunately, we were distracted during the show by the disturbing bloody paintings on hanging mirrors all around the room.

Graz

We had an absolutely fantastic time in a small town outside of Graz thanks to an amazing couple we met in Namibia on our safari. Their family welcomed us American strangers with open arms as we all got to know each other over coffee and delicious apple strudel.

Playing football

Near their town, there’s a Formula One track that brings in people from all around the world.

They took us on a gorgeous walk near the ski hill and then stopped for Kaiserschmarrn (delicious strips of fluffy pancake served with apple sauce or jam and powdered sugar), and other treats and drinks. We talked and relaxed on this beautiful Sunday afternoon while the kids entertained themselves on the trampolines.

On our last night, we drove to Graz, walked to the top of Schlossberg for a beautiful view of the city and got a tour of the city from our wonderful hosts.

Salzburg

Technically, we stayed in Freilassing, Germany and we were sooo excited to finally be in Germany! We all speak some German but had not been able to understand any of the Austrian dialect at all!

We took the train into Salzburg to see the the city and the Mozart museum with detailed English and German descriptions as well as many artifacts and paintings.

The highlight of our time in Salzburg was, of course, the Sound of Music tour. Our tour guide sat right on the line between energetic, funny and annoying. We got to see the two different houses used for the outside of the Von Trapp family’s home during filming, the gazebo, the Abbey, the lane of trees that Maria runs down, and the church where they got married. On our own we went to the –garden where we saw the fountain and steps where they sing the iconic Do Rae Mi. We learned about the behind the scenes aspects of the movie as well as the history. As the bus played songs from the movie, we met a wonderful family from England behind us with three young children who were the only others on the bus singing along with us (little did we know that we would stay with them in England in the coming months!).

Do Rae Mi

Lake scenes

View from back of house

Front of house

Gazebo

I have confidence in sunshine…

Tour bus

Church where Maria and Georg get married

Desserts outside of the church

Fountain–Do Rae Mi

We had a great and relaxed time in Austria with lovely weather and lovely company. If we had a list of favorite experiences, this would be towards the top! We can’t wait to go back!

Next up — Germany!